FAIR-MINDEDNESS and a willingness to acknowledge both sides of the argument are grave defects in a columnist.

ECONOMIST: Arguments over majority voting in the European Union

Why this costly and embarrassing kabuki when we both know the facts, and would even admit privately that all this harassment is only the government's way of showing that it is "fair, " of demonstrating that it will equally humiliate anyone in order to show its high-mindedness and sense of justice?

NPR: 'This American Moment' As Peggy Noonan Sees It